Hilltoppers’ Schlageter best arm Raiders faced this season ‘by far’

PEORIA, Ill. — For one inning, T.J. Schlageter was immaculate.

Five other innings, he was unhittable.

That’s a scenario the Quincy Notre Dame baseball team hadn’t faced this season.

Schlageter, the Joliet Catholic left-hander who has signed with the University of Louisville, handcuffed the Raiders for seven innings Friday night, allowing just three hits in a 10-3 victory in the semifinals of the Class 2A state tournament at Dozer Park.

“He was a really talented arm,” said QND senior first baseman Dalton Miller, who struck out twice in three at-bats. “He was able to keep us off-balance, especially early on in the game. He worked a good fastball-changeup sequence. Just really keeping us off-balance is what we struggled to make an adjustment to.

“We caught a few barrels, but it was hard finding holes towards the end of the game. We started to piece him up a little better, but it ended up not being enough.”

That’s because Schlageter relentlessly attacked the strike zone.

He walked QND’s Jake Schisler leading off the bottom of the first inning before retiring the next 13 Raiders in a row. In that stretch, Schlageter put together an immaculate inning — he struck out the side in the second inning on nine pitches.

“The sneaky fastball,” QND senior center fielder Colin Kurk said of what made Schlegeter effective. “The ball looked like it was rising on you. Usually, you’re trying to stay through the ball. Today, you were trying to stay over it to try to get a nice line drive. It was tough to get used to and tough to see. Then he started mixing in the other stuff.”

The way the fastball ran made it difficult to barrel.

“The spin on this guy’s fastball was so effective because he could throw it up in the zone,” QND senior third baseman Brady Kindhart said. “Normally, we’re used to it dropping. This one would just stay up and we had to hit the top of the baseball. We didn’t figure that out early enough or change our approach fast enough.”

QND broke up Schlageter’s no-hit bid with Nolan Robb’s one-out single to center field in the fifth. Kurk delivered a two-run double after Evan Kenning was hit by a pitch, and Schisler had a two-out RBI single that made it 5-3 at the time.

Schlageter didn’t allow the comeback to have any legs. He retired seven of the final eight batters he faced, getting two popouts and two groundouts in that stretch.

He struck out eight, walked two and is arguably the best arm the Raiders faced this season.

“I would say by far,” Schisler said.